Slow Vineyard Race

New England's classic Labor Day weekend offshore race is Stamford Yacht Club’s annual Vineyard Race. The 238 nautical-mile adventure starts off Stamford Harbor, and takes racers down the length of Long Island Sound to Buzzard's Bay Light Tower (passing it to starboard), then back to Block Island (also passing it to starboard), before again sailing the length of Long Island Sound, back to the finish just inside the harbor. This year’s race may go down in history as one of the longest ever. Winning PHRF Class 11 and Overall PHRF was Bill & Jackie Baxter’s J/111 FIREBALL; their victory took just under 48 hours to complete the course (an average 4.95 knots over 238nm). Second in their class was another J/111, Abhijeet Lele’s VARUNA. For more Vineyard Race information, visit http://www.stamfordyc.com/Sailing/Vineyard_Race_(1).

Swift Time at Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta

Rowdy Weekend at Verve Cup Offshore / J/111 Great Lakes Championship

Eleven J/111s competed at the Verve Cup Offshore Regatta hosted by Chicago Yacht Club from August 10-12, which also served as the J/111 Great Lakes Championship. Conditions ranged from a lumpy 6-10 knots on Friday, light winds on Saturday and about 8 knots on Sunday under sunny skies. Richard Witzel's Rowdy won three of the seven races to secure first place with 17 points. Peter Wagner's Skeleton Key took the runner-up position with 20 points, two better than Bradley Faber's Utah in third. For complete event details, visit https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=4700.

Wicked Buzzards Bay Regatta

The 2018 Buzzards Bay Regatta was held August 3-5 by Beverly Yacht Club (Marion, MA) and New Bedford Yacht Club (South Dartmouth, MA), with six course circles hosting nearly 200 entrants. The J/111 Wicked 2.0 lead by Douglas Curtiss took the PHRF New England Championship Race 1. Complete event details may be found at https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=4710.

J/111 Wicked Wins PHRF Division at Round the Island Race

Edgartown Yacht Club’s Round-the-Island Race (one of America’s oldest distance races) took place around Martha’s Vineyard. It is part of the Edgartown Yacht Club’s Edgartown Race Weekend, which includes two days of buoy racing and a Round-the-Sound Race. Starting at 0800 Saturday morning, the RTI fleet sailed between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket along the east beach of Chappaquiddick. At midday, the fleet headed into the open Atlantic Ocean off the south coast of the Vineyard. In the afternoon, after rounding the cliffs of Gay Head, the sailors then headed up Vineyard Sound to the finish near Edgartown Harbor. Douglas Curtiss’s J/111 WICKED 2.0 won PHRF A. For more Round the Island Race & Sound information, visit http://rtirace.org/.

Kashmir Team Tops Ugotta Regatta

The Little Traverse Yacht Club’s Ugotta Regatta lived up to its fun reputation on the Little Traverse Bay in Michigan. Winning the J/111s was the trio on KASHMIR (Karl Brummel, Steve Henderson, Mike Mayer) with four firsts and a second for just 6 points total. Second was Brad Faber’s UTAH with 9 points. Taking the bronze was Carl Hanssen’s VARIANCE with 16. For more LTYC Ugotta Regatta information, visit https://ltyc.org/ugotta-regatta/.